The NRL play-the-ball has become a farce. The Panthers’ miracle win proves it

So, about the spellbinding comeback from the Panthers on Friday night...

Yes, it was like nothing we’d seen this year: three tries in three minutes, a wave of pink jerseys swarming downfield, the same players who ripped the Broncos’ nine fingers off last year’s premiership trophy and then somehow did something more extraordinary again, albeit the stakes not as great.

We all see how good they are.

But if you watch that mesmerising finish against the Eels close enough, you’ll also see the most basic fundamental in the game has become a farce: the play-the-ball.

They say in the NRL once someone coughs, everyone catches a cold. Well, there’s an absolute epidemic which has ripped through the game this year, and the referees seemingly don’t give a fig about it.

Take Penrith’s breathtaking comeback at CommBank Stadium. In the three sets which preceded the late tries which buried the Eels, they were tackled 11 times. You could argue only once (winger Sunia Turuva) did they uphold the laws of the game by a player genuinely trying to strike the ball with his foot after being tackled.

Instead, there was a combination of tunnel ball, stepovers, and everything else in between, from the NRL’s best player in Nathan Cleary, to bona fide representative stars Isaah Yeo and Brian To’o, down to newcomer Mavrik Geyer. None of them even bothering to try to use their foot to play the ball, instead rolling it and just getting out of the way.

Does it matter? Absolutely.

The attack can be sped up, and defensive line put under so much more duress, when you’re allowed to roll the ball back after being tackled and just move on. It’s faster than placing it on the ground, and then having to strike it back with your foot. It might look lazy, but there’s logic behind it.

Every coach will game the system for even the most marginal gains, and this year’s fad is the warp speed for the play-the-ball, the area in which most matches are either won or lost (statistics are available on the NRL website after each game of the play-the-ball pace). In isolation, one case of tunnel ball might not seem like it would make a difference. But done dozens – or even hundreds – of times each game, it adds up.

Last round produced a bunch of scorelines which would have pleased the point-a-minute, try-a-thon enthusiasts: 36-34, 46-24, 42-18, 34-32. It was almost a record for the most points scored in one round of the NRL. Defences seem like they don’t want to keep up, but has anyone thought maybe they just can’t?

Coaches spend years schooling their players in the dark arts of wrestling and grappling opponents in tackles – using dojos and other martial arts studios – all in the name of slowing down a rival in playing the ball. If they can even delay it by tenths of a second without being penalised, they consider it a win, enabling their defensive line a fraction more time to set.

But when it comes to actually having the correct technique in playing the ball, go for your life.

The folly of the modern-day officiating is referees will diligently call a knock-on against any tackled player who places the ball on the ground, and then accidentally nudges it forward with their foot, rather than backwards, as they try to strike it. Those are the players trying to adhere to the rule.

A quick dive for the NRL handbook states tackled players must “place the ball on the ground, and make a genuine attempt to play the ball with the foot while maintaining balance”.

On Monday, NRL head of football Graham Annesley said: “Players are required to make a genuine attempt to play the ball correctly. Referees are responsible for maintaining that standard in games.

“No club is perfect in this area. It is up to the referee to determine whether there has been a clear breach of the rules.”

It’s not a shot at Ivan Cleary or his team because it’s happening across every set of every game in every week by every club. The Eels had multiple culprits on Friday night, and for the rest of the weekend it was prevalent in every match. Naturally, some are worse than others (sorry, big Nelson).

The NRL has every right to be basking in the glow of this terrific season: the Origin decider was one for the ages; crowds have been superb for most of the season; television ratings are soaring; registered participation figures have cracked 200,000 for the first time; and the revival of traditional clubs the Bulldogs and Dragons has added another element to this year’s competition.

The last thing anyone wants to see is a pedantic crackdown on play-the-balls on the eve of the finals.

But the genie is well and truly out of the bottle this year, and the coaches and players know it.

Will anyone bother trying to put it back in?

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